The Sign of the Devil
by tititenis
Summary: Detective Jane Rizzoli and the Boston PD are having problems with solving their latest case: Women are being killed and their main organs taken out of their bodies. Without any kind of solid leads, they have to call the BAU and ask for their help. In a race against the clock, will the Boston PD and BAU find the person responsible for these crimes?
1. Kenmore Square

The darkness of the room only gave more reasons for the macabre to continue. It was nearly impossible to stop now, especially after doing it for almost 10 years. 10 years without being caught, even without being noticed by the police. The reason behind this was extra care in details, deciding to not fall into a pattern that would allow the police to realize that they have a serial killer on the loose. The credit of being recognized was a craving that was desired, to tell the truth. It had been tough to wait for this day to come, desperation almost threatening to destroy what was so carefully planned many years ago. But now the time had come, and it was finally time to come out of the darkness and be recognized for what he truly was: a genius. He was smiling broadly, already thinking how the newspapers would be telling his story, how many people would be scared of going to the streets because they feared that he was around. Yes, it was exhilarating, intoxicating to feel feared, respected and in control of the fate of others, he was not going to deny that. Sometimes it was painful to go back to a normal life, to walk around people without them knowing who he truly was. _A necessary measure, he told himself. _People were quick to notice strange behavior, and he was a man of strange tendencies and tastes, reason why he knew he was going to be misunderstood. This was what scared him at first to reveal his true colors, his true feelings. Nevertheless, after a long spiritual journey of self-discovery he found his ultimate motivation. His mission was to not be part of the people, but to lead them. 10 years later, and he was ready to achieve his goal. It was time, the world and people needing his leadership. He looked down into the eyes of a terrified woman who was crying quietly on the corner of the room. An easy catch, too foolish to trust him. The temptation to deceive him to sin was what made him decide that this was going to be his next convert, and he was almost done with the ritual. This woman was living a life of darkness, and needed to be saved. He was not going to let her be saved. He was going to make her follow his command in the darkness. That was his goal. He approached her and gave him his hand while smiling. She spat at him and tried to run away. _Foolish, there is nowhere to go. _Still, he let her, because he had all the time in the world. Well, maybe not so much. He had a schedule and to follow it was necessary. He cornered her and took out an injection. Without much of a struggle he brought her to the bed and placed her in position. The injection had enough to make her not struggle, but not enough to make her sleep. She was awake, the way he wanted, and with another smile he took the knife from the table and began to cut. _And so it begins, he whispered while smiling happily._

* * *

Jane was moving around, looking for her keys. After solving the case, they went to the _Robber _to get some celebration drinks, and after that she went to Maura's place to sleep it off. She liked to sleep at her house, which was a lot better than her small apartment. Since they met five years ago, they became best friends, a friendship that not many in the force understood. She had to agree that Maura was a very special person to get to know, but maybe that's why the two of them clicked. You see, Jane was also a very special person. Not only was she a detective, and a woman, but also a strong-willed Italian that had two brothers which meant get tough or get owned. She did the first, and while her professional career went soaring, her love life was not that great. She got engaged to a man that chose to stay a soldier than marry her, and she, in response to that, chose to stay a detective than marry him and become an army wife. Maura's love life was also not great: she either scared her dates after diagnosing them, or fell for men that were dangerous (and by dangerous they were either serial killers or thieves). No love life meant that no man was waiting for them to come home, which meant that they had each other. Those after job meals became rutinary, and soon enough they were something that she couldn't imagine not having. She loved Maura, and to live without her would be a terrible pain. After Maura confessed to her that she wouldn't be able to be without her (but as a best friend), Jane's feelings for Maura started to shift. She was a little scared of admitting that, but she was also no fool. She knew the signs and what that meant: She was falling in love with Maura Isles. Small touches that were before unnoticed, long stares and small moments that were normal before became more than that. She was now looking forward to them, and a small stomach ache came to her every time they spent the night together. She knew that the rest of the department also found their friendship strange, and she could see the looks that she got from Korsak and Frost when they came together to a crime scene: They were questioning, and that also made her question what Maura thought about the two of them, a question that she was never going to ask her. She valued Maura too much, and was scared of compromising their friendship. That's why she tried so hard to make it work with Casey. He was always away, which meant that she could be with Maura, but then the commitment of being married stopping her from wanting to be in a relationship with Maura.

She exhaled, watching Maura come out of the room ready. They smiled at each other, and Jane realized that she truly had it bad. Maura went to sit by the table, picking the cup of coffee that Jane made her.

"It's not instant." she told her while smiling.

Maura smiled back."Really? Detective Rizzoli making good coffee? What have you done to my best friend?"

Jane smiled. "I do have my moments."

Maura sat right next to her and squeezed her hand. "I appreciate it. A lot."

Jane squeezed it back. "You are welcome."

They both stayed quietly looking at each other, not caring at all about the silence. They were used to these stares, and even comfortable with them. What Jane didn't know was that Maura loved to look at her brown eyes, fierce and strong looking. She loved Jane to a level that was not normal, one that she had never felt for anyone before. She was scared of feeling like this, not even Ian made her feel like this during her time in Ethiopia, and Maura was a very difficult person when it came to feelings. She barely showed, and the little that she showed, she showed it to Jane. When her mom Constance came to visit her, she asked her this same questions, questions that she had barely thought about.

_"So tell me darling, how is detective Rizzoli?"_

_Maura took a sip of her wine. "She is ok. She is not getting married anymore." she said, suddenly wondering why that was the first thing that she told her._

_Her mom smiled at her, grabbing her hand. "And does that relief you?"_

_"Yes." Maura stopped, noticing how that sounded. "I mean, yes it does, but I hate to see Jane sad, and I know how hard it was for her to say no."_

_Constance smiled again. "But you are happy that she is not getting married."_

_Maura gulped, she couldn't lie. "Yes, she deserves someone better than Casey, someone that is always there, someone that respects and values her. Not someone that disappears and appears into her life whenever he wants to." she said the last part angrily._

_"So basically, someone like you." her mom said happily._

_Maura stopped breathing, realizing that she had described her relationship with Jane. "Yes." she whispered. "I'm sorry, mother."_

_"Don't be darling. I like Jane Rizzoli too. And she truly cares about you, I can see it in her eyes and the way she stood up to me. I think that if you told her about your feelings, you would be surprised by her answer."_

_"But she was marrying Casey!"Maura said, trying to convince herself._

_"And you also dated men." her mom refuted._

Maura knew her mother was right, and that the feelings that she had for Jane only grew with the passing of time. Before she met Jane she was known as the "Queen of the Dead", a nickname that she never really liked or cared about. That was, until four years ago she officially met Detective Jane Rizzoli. Without her knowledge, she had met Jane while she was working undercover, giving her money to buy a coffee and a donut. After that encounter, Maura was curious about the young woman, and how she found herself in, ironically, a police station.

_She started to go to the cafeteria every day, hoping to see the woman again, and after a week of not seeing her she gave up. She was going straight to her office, but her phone rang, making her stop on her tracks._

_'Isles'. She said absently._

_'We need you on scene, there was a murder. Police already there, waiting to determine if this was a murder or a suicide.'_

_'Have you tried to reach Dr. Pike? He is the one that does on-scene autopsies.'_

_'He is not answering his phone, and we need a medical examiner on-scene right now.' the dispatcher said almost angrily._

_Maura exhaled, she was going to have a serious talk with Dr. Pike. 'I'm on my way.'_

_She never really felt anything when she went to crime scenes, which led to her nickname. Still, it continued to surprise her the lengths that people went through when they committed a crime. When she saw the yellow tape, she took out her ID and showed it to the police officer who was keeping watch. She could her the policemen commenting on the scene. Words like 'gruesome', and 'made Frost throw up his food' were some of the things that she could hear. She finally reached the body, after a long walk, which surprised her based on the amount of blood that was on the floor, and kneeled down right next to it. Young man, healthy looking, who had an injury on his abdomen, which probably led to him bleeding out. She was making mental notes, until she was interrupted._

_"Do you have a cause of death?" she heard a familiar voice tell her._

_Maura quickly turned around and found the woman from the cafeteria looking at her, recognition in her face._

_"You have got to be kidding me." the woman said._

_"I'm not." Maura answered her seriously, but amused. "I'm Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." she said while looking up._

_The woman smiled brightly and bent right next to her, putting some gloves on. "I'm Detective Jane Rizzoli, homicide."_

_Maura smiled back at her, immediately liking the woman."And yes. An injury to the abdomen led to him bleeding out."_

_"Was it self-inflicted?"_

_Maura took a look at the wound, analyzing it. "The angle in which it is located makes me suspect that it was not self-inflicted. If it was self-inflicted I would have expected the injury to be near the center of the abdomen, but you see here, this injury is near the left side of it, which is a hard angle to hit."_

_Maura saw Jane smile at her. "A simple yes or no would have been enough." she smirked._

_Maura felt embarrassed immediately. "Yes. I apologize, some people just say I'm wordy."_

_"You? Wordy?" Jane said sweetly. "I don't believe that." she added sarcastically. "Can you tell me the weapon that was used?"_

_"Too soon to tell." she said while standing up, Jane following. "I will tell the team to grab the body and take it to the morgue where Dr. Pike will examine it."_

_"Not Dr. Pike." Jane said hastily. "I hate Dr. Pike." she said while looking at Maura pleadingly. "Can't you do the autopsy?"_

_Maura would have usually said no. She was usually called when a victim was either very important or the autopsy too difficult to be performed by other doctors. This one looked easy, and she knew that although Dr. Pike was useless, he was going to do it just fine. But then this woman was asking her to do it. She took a deep breath._

_"Sure." she answered while smiling._

After that day, she found herself doing the autopsy of all the cases of Jane. It was fun to interact with the detective, and soon enough they became really close. She also grew close to Jane's partner, Detective Barry Frost, and the Sergeant Detective Vince Korsak. Now she had Jane looking at her with love and care, smiling softly while drinking her coffee. She was scared of what she felt for Jane, but more scared of her feelings not being reciprocated, which would probably kill her.

They were both distracted when Jane's phone started to buzz. A few seconds later and Maura's phone also buzzed.

'Rizzoli´

'Isles'

'Woman found dead on Kenmore Square, we need you and Dr. Isles on the scene.'

'Woman found dead on Kenmore Square, we need you and Detective Rizzoli on the scene.'

'We are on our way.' both women answered while standing up.

Jane grabbed Maura's car keys and headed for the door.

"Why are you going to drive my car?" Maura asked surprised. She hated when Jane drove and changed at the same time.

"Because I hate it when you drive too slow." Jane said, answering back.

"Ok, but then you will take me later to eat a nice salad, your treat." Maura said while laughing.

"Fair enough, now hop in." Jane said while smiling, going fast to the scene.


	2. Faceless

Jane and Maura made their way to the front of the crowd of news reporters that started to gather around the scene. Jane had to push some around and show them their badge in order to let the both of them get through. She didn't like to see many reporters, because it meant that it was either a celebrity (she hated to solve celebrities cases because people were so uncooperative) or a very gruesome murder (reporters and people liked bloody scenes). Her fears were confirmed when she saw Frost pucking on the side of the street. She approached him and patted his shoulder. What also surprised Jane was that Korsak was right next to him and not near the body. She saw Maura making her way to the body, but then she suddenly heard her scream. Jane ran to where she was, and when she saw her stare ice cold, she looked down, puke making her way to her throat. She took Maura out of there and towards the bushes, where she finally bent down and puked. It was unusual for her, in fact she never puked. She felt Maura shaking right next to her, and that was when Jane knew that it was really bad because not once in her life she saw a body get to Maura like that. She stood up and hugged Maura quietly, trying to keep her face away from her. She felt Maura hugging her back.

"That was so awful Jane. I'm sorry for reacting this way." she said while crying quietly.

Jane held her tighter, understanding her pain. "I know Maur. Whatever did that was not human, there is just no way." she said to Maura.

Maura squeezed her one more time before separating and cleaning her eyes. She took a deep breath and started to walk back to the scene. Jane did the same and followed her, trying to avoid looking at the body no matter what. Maura, on the other hand, couldn't be so lucky.

"I cannot determine the gender." she said quietly. "The body is too destroyed to be able to identify anything. No clear cause of death, mutilation clearly shows that the victim was murdered. Also, there are some parts that were separated from the body, not sure if post-mortem. This" she said while pointing towards a small pile of pus and other things that Jane didn't even want to know. "I can say was the head of the body, and this." she continued while pointing to the chest that was intact. "Is the chest. Now that I am more calm, I can see that the chest belongs to a female." she stood up while making a sign to the coroners van to get everything and take it to the morgue.

Jane was quietly looking at Maura, trying to see how she felt. She saw that Maura was pale, and after they covered the body, she grabbed Maura and took her behind the bushes. She knew that look very well.

"Maur, you won't feel better until you puke." she said quietly.

Maura was holding her breath. "No Jane, the Chief Medical Examiner cannot be disgusted by a human body."

"The Chief Medical Examiner is also a human being." Jane said sweetly. "Only I can see you, and no judging."

Maura looked up to Jane, and after quickly looking around the place, she lowered her head and started to throw up. Meanwhile, Jane was grabbing her hair and caressing her neck in comfortable motions. She felt bad for Maura, and she admired her now even more than before because no one would have been able to do what she did. Maura stopped and looked up to Jane, who was looking at her with love and sympathy.

"I'm so embarrassed that you had to see that Jane." she said while lowering her head.

Jane grabbed her chin and pulled it up. "I have seen worse." she said while smiling softly. "And thanks for trusting me."

"I will always trust you Jane." Maura said softly, noticing that Jane still had her hand grabbing her chin.

"And so will I." she husked while moving forward and giving Maura a tight hug. "Now let's get the hell out of here." she said while grabbing her hand and leading Maura to the car.

* * *

He was happy with the way the media had shown up on the scene. He knew it was a little risk to stay so close, but the thrill of watching the reaction of the people finding his piece of art was something that he had to see with his own eyes. He especially enjoyed when the old and young police men approached the body and one of them went to puke to the side. It was too funny, and now that he was noticed by the police, he could continue to work on his next piece. He had it ready, and the only thing that was missing was acquiring the frame. It had to be a good frame, one that would fit with the specific kind of work that he had planned. He was interrupted by a woman who walked right next to him and the two of them bumped.

"I apologize, maa'm." he said while taking his hat out.

"Don't worry young man." the old woman answered. "I was just on my way to my play."

He looked up excitedly. _This was too easy. _"You are an actress?"

"Yes." she answered back happily. "Right now we are doing _Les Miserables. _Lovely play, you should come."

"I wish I could, but I would probably not have the money to buy a ticket." he said sadly. There could be no traces of his presence there.

The woman nodded. "Well in that case I insist you come. You will have a ticket waiting for you at the front of the theater."

"I couldn't impose." he said embarrassed.

"Nonsense, you are more than welcome, mister?"

"Duncan." he said while smiling. "Richard Duncan."

* * *

"Janey! Janey!" she heard her mom scream from across the hall. "Are you alright?"

Jane looked around the cafeteria and saw everyone look ashamedly at her. Her mom's rants were already famous in the precinct, and after a while everyone became family with the Rizzoli family drama.

"What are you talking about Ma?!" she said angrily. "People are looking at us."

"Since when do you care about that? And besides, it's on every channel. That murder in Kenmore Square. Poor person."

Jane shuttered. "Yeah Ma, it was really bad. It even got to Maura." she said. "Which reminds me, I'm supposed to meet her right now so she can give me information about our John or Jane Doe."

"Do you think she will want something to eat? She hasn't come for her usual meal." her mom said absently.

Jane felt like throwing up again. "I don't think she is going to be hungry Ma, but thanks."

Jane left her mom talking with some cops about the cons of being the mother of two detectives. She loved her mother but sometimes she was just so annoying. The only person that was not a member of the Rizzoli family and could keep up with her mom was Maura. Maybe she was growing immune to the Rizzoli charm after spending almost 5 years with them. Jane smiled, remembering how since the day they met Maura had this natural way of deflecting Jane's sarcastic comments and making her open up about herself and her feelings. She knew that Maura was the same way, and when her mom made the observation that Maura only allowed Jane to hug her, Jane could have sworn that she saw Maura blush slightly. After that innocent remark, Jane always looked when Maura said hi to others, and just as her mom said, Maura only hugged her. This made Jane smile warmly, a smile that became brighter when she saw Maura sitting in her office.

"Can I come in?" she said while knocking.

Maura looked up and smiled sadly. "Of course Jane." she motioned for Jane to sit down.

Jane instead went to stand beside her and grab her shoulders. She noticed that this calmed Maura when she was nervous. "How are you Maur?"

Maura relaxed, and exhaled deeply. She couldn't hide her feelings and emotions from Jane. "Bad. This autopsy has been one of the most difficult that I have ever had to make. Scientifically and morally speaking."

Jane grabbed her shoulders tighter and started to move her hands around them. "I hate to ask this of you, but what did you find?"

Maura shuttered. "Woman, mid twenties from the couple of teeth that were found on the scene. There were parts of her body that I couldn't find. Cause of death inconclusive, the body was too destroyed to determine one, and her blood had Atrocurium, Cisatracurium Besylate, Desflurane, Enflurane, Halothane, Hyoscyamine, Isoflurane and Ketamine, in it."

Jane smiled despite herself. Maura and her scientific approach. "Or?"

"These are some components that can be found in General Anesthesia."

"So she was unconscious then?" Jane asked, almost feeling relieved that the woman didn't suffer.

"No Jane. She had just the right amount of substance so that she wouldn't move. I'm afraid she was conscious and aware when all of this was happening." Maura whispered quietly.

Jane felt sick again. "You said some body parts missing?"

"Yes. The heart, an eye, the left femur, her uterus, the right breast and her tongue."

Jane nodded. "Maybe our killer does not like women."

"That is guessing Jane." Maura said disapprovingly.

"Or, it has nothing to do with the gender, but with things that rise sexual arousal." Jane said more to herself than to Maura.

"You are still guessing Jane."

"No Maura, I mean think. The heart that makes you feel stuff, then the eye that looks at the stuff. The femur which comes from the leg, a leg that you use to walk to the stuff, and your organs that make you enjoy the stuff." Jane said excitedly.

"It does make sense if you put it that way." Frost said while coming in. "Sorry we took so long, but Korsak ate something that made him get all bad."

The women looked at Korsak while holding a laugh.

"For your own good you better hold everything right inside." Jane said sarcastically.

Korsak pretended to not listen at all and instead joined the group. "I think you are right Jane. Our killer is angry, and this makes things dangerous. I don't think this is over."

"This is a lot of speculation." Maura said while feeling her phone vibrate. She looked at the caller ID and right away started to make her way to the door. "Excuse me, I need to get this." she said while making her way out of the morgue.

When she was outside she pushed the answer button.

'Mom, what a lovely surprise.' she said while smiling softly. Her mother really had the greatest times to call. 'Comment allez vous?'

'Bon soir darling, je suis tre bien. Are you busy by any chance? I just landed in Boston.'

'You are here! Mother that's marvelous.' Maura said happily.' I'm almost done with an autopsy. Where do you want to meet?'

'They are showing Les Miserables in the Boston Opera House and I bought three tickets. Why don't you tell Jane to join us too?' her mother said happily.

'That is very sweet of you mom, but Jane doesn't like theater.' Maura said nervously. Her mom had been behaving very suspiciously after that talk they had about Jane.

'I'm sure that if you are the one asking her then she will make an exception.' her mom said sweetly. 'Now go finish that autopsy and I will go with the driver to pick you both up. Au revoir.'

Maura was left standing there with the phone still in her ear. There was no way of escaping this, and now she had to convince Jane to join the two of them at the theater. Maura made her way back to the autopsy room, listening to Jane, Korsak and Frost talking about baseball and the last matches. They heard her heels and stopped talking. Jane smiled brightly at her, making some space right next to her.

"I got a text from the crime lab. They are still waiting for the DNA results." Maura said while picking up some folders from the desk. "They also sent me the complete results of the blood tests. She had HIV, early stage." Maura added.

"Maybe she was getting treatment for that." Jane said hopefully. "Korsak, why don't you check the database for a description that fits our Jane Doe."

"Without a name or any kind of ID it will be too broad." Korsak said.

"I can help you narrow it down to the little specifics that Maura found." Frost said. "And I will also check some missing people database. It fits with the profile."

"Good idea Frost." Jane said happily. "Now let's go find this killer before things escalate."

Everyone started to head out of the crime lab, Jane walking the slowest on purpose. Maura started to clean everything and make her way to her office, followed closely by Jane. They already had this routine of sharing everything that happened to them, including phone calls and stuff. Now that Maura thought about it, they behaved like a couple already, the only thing missing being the fact of actually being a couple.

"Who called you Maur? You were happy when you came back."

"It was my mother." she said while smiling. "She is in Boston and wants us to go out with her today."

"That's great Maur." Jane said happily. "Wait, you said us?" she added surprised.

"Yes Jane, my mother told me that she bought some tickets for the opera tonight." Maura said quietly. "Would you like to come?"

Jane exhaled. "You know I hate the opera Maura."

"I do know, but it would mean a lot to me if you came." Maura said embarrassed.

Jane smiled softly and nodded. "Ok Maur. But I will go with these clothes." she added.

Maura nodded. "You know, I have a very nice blazer that would fit you nicely." she said sweetly while closing her eyes. She had found out that this made Jane agree to do what she asked her.

Jane stayed quiet for a while. "Ok Maur. I will wear the blazer."

"Be at 7pm at my place, my mother will pick us up there." Maura said while smiling brightly.

Jane smiled back and nodded, happy to see her best friend be this happy. She hated the opera, but since she met Maura, she found herself doing stuff that she usually hated to do and enjoying them. Maura had softened her, she realized, and although she was always strong and firm with Korsak and Frost, she found it impossible to be that way with Maura. She smiled warmly and made her way to the cafeteria. She was going to ask her mom to cook her something and then head out for the day. She wanted to surprise Maura, and make her feel important. In order to do that, she knew that she had to some shopping, especially because Maura knew all the clothes that were hanging in her closet. She exhaled, not enjoying shopping but knowing it was necessary to make her evening with Maura and her mother the best one possible. Since Constance gave her life for Maura, Jane had grown to respect and admire the woman deeply. She knew that she had been rude and direct when they first met, but apparently that was what made Constance like her. She didn't complain about that, but still, now that she was going to see her again, it was going to be a little bit uncomfortable after their last meeting in the hospital. She still remembers the talk that she had with Constance after she shot Paddy Doyle. She had been in the hospital waiting for the police to come out of interrogating Paddy and at the same time trying to look out for Maura. She remembers being completely depressed because Maura was ignoring her, and after that discussion they had she was going to head out until a nurse stopped her.

_"Mrs. Isles would like to speak to you." she said while taking her to the hospital room._

_Jane nervously looked around the hall, trying to see if Maura was near. She was scared of realizing that Maura was beyond angry with her, and that troubled her deeply. She realized that during the last two years, their lives were so entwined that suddenly ending that and being on her own was too painful._

_Jane made her way inside the room and saw Constance Isles looking at her seriously. She sat down on a chair next to hers._

_"Detective Rizzoli." she said quietly. "Thank you for coming to fast."_

_"Of course Constance. How are you feeling?"_

_"I have been better of course, but I'm just glad to see that Maura is ok."_

_Jane gulped at the mention of Maura. Constance noticed this._

_"I know what happened Jane." she said softly. "And I also know my daughter. Don't give up on her."_

_Jane exhaled, letting the sadness that she was feeling become visible. "I screwed up big time Constance, and she won't forgive me. I mean, I have never seen her look at someone like that."_

_"I understand Jane. Maura is a very complicated person to love. It is true that she is smart and bright, but emotionally she is very innocent."_

_"Her innocence is what makes people love her. In our world that is full of liars and monsters, Maura is a ray of light." Jane said sadly. "And now I ruined it."_

_Jane felt Constance hand on her own, and she was surprised. She didn't notice that she had started to cry softly._

_"Don't give up. She will come to her senses. Be there for her and keep loving her. She cannot be that stubborn darling. And besides, I know you are stubborn too." she said while smiling softly._

_Jane smiled too. "Thank you Constance, for this." she said while pointing at them. "And by the way, you are not bad at all at this. At parenting." she added while smiling brightly._

_"Protect her Jane. She may think that the danger is over but it is not. Now that people know that she is related to Paddy Doyle, many will look for her in an attempt to hurt Paddy."_

_"I intend on doing that no matter what." she said fiercely while standing up. "I have to go, I fear that we have a snitch in the police department. Please take care of yourself." she added while squeezing her hand._

_"Au revoir et bone sorte."_

After that day Jane made the resolution of never hurting Maura again. And until now she had been keeping that promise. She couldn't imagine being without Maura, and this scared her too: Her dependence on the petite woman. Jane reached the cafeteria and sat down quietly, knowing that in any second her mom was going to realize she was there.

"Janey, do I serve you lunch?!"

_Make that less than a second._

"Yes Ma! But something quick because I need to go to the mall."

"How come?" her mom asked her suspiciously.

"Constance invited Maura and I to the opera."

Angela smiled conspirationally. "And you are going? I thought you hated that."

Jane exhaled. "Yes, I do. But Maura asked me to come, and it's rude to turn down the invitation." she said between teeth.

Angela smiled again. "Well in that case, I think I should go to the mall with you to find you something nice to wear."

"Come on Ma. I'm a grown up woman that can shop by herself." she said annoyed.

Her mom looked at her. "If you don't want my company then that's ok." she whispered quietly.

Jane exhaled. "It's not that Ma."

But the damage was already done. If she didn't take her then it was going to be a big fight and resentment from her mom that would last a long time.

"But I do think I need another opinion." she whispered.

Her mom smiled and went to the bag to get her purse. "Now let's go shopping!"

_What have I gotten myself into? _Jane cried to herself.


	3. The Opera

He made his way to the theater, a bouquet of flowers and his ticket in his hand. He smiled warmly to the bellboy and headed straight backstage. He was looking for Mrs. Fitzmore, and when she saw him waiting for her she went to meet him.

"Mr. Duncan, glad you could make it." she said while smiling.

He gave her the flowers. "This are for you, a small token of my appreciation."

She smiled and smelled them, which was just what he wanted. "Thank you young man, you shouldn't. Now if you excuse me, I have to go to makeup and get ready for my first scene."'

He nodded and saw her make her way inside the backstage area. This was the moment where his plan started to be set, the drug on the flowers starting to function and affect the woman in 45 minutes, which gave her just enough time to perform her first scene and then head out for a wardrobe change. It could have been easier to just take her right now, but who was he kidding: He wanted people to notice her absence, to search for her and probably replace her with an extra. He wanted people to notice the change, and when they least expected it, surprise them with a big finale. He smiled again, heading backstage to patiently wait for Mrs. Fitzmore. He was actually a little upset about missing the play, he really liked The Miserables. Maybe next season.

* * *

Jane was a little nervous about her evening with Maura. Her mother had helped her with buying a dress and fixing her hair and makeup. She looked different, and this made her feel a little out of her element. Nevertheless, when she walked out of her apartment she saw how men and some women were clearly staring at her. This made her feel a little bit better. It was 6:50 when she finally got to Maura's, and after taking a deep breath, she made it out of the car and headed for the door. She knocked once and soon enough Maura was opening the door.

Maura looked at her, clearly taken back with the way Jane was dressed. Without her noticing, she found her stare lingering on the way the dress nicely fitted her. She gulped. "Jane, you look amazing." she said embarrassed.

She saw Jane smiling brightly, and then spinning around. "Do you like it?"

"I love it Jane." she said happily. "Thank you for taking the time to do all of this."

"For you Maura, anything." Jane said, quickly turning red.

Maura smiled brightly and kissed her on the cheek, lingering her lips there for far too long. "Vous etes tre belle, cherie." she whispered.

Jane felt herself gulp, suddenly aware of Maura's stare, her hazel eyes focusing on her mouth. She didn't know what took over her, but she saw herself position her hands at Maura's hips and pressing them tightly. Maura groaned, going forward and making her way to Jane's face, her lips almost touching Jane's.

"What are we doing?" she whispered.

"I don't know Maura, but don't stop." Jane said while touching her lips with Maura's.

They kissed briefly, both women expecting the other to separate, but when none did their desire took over and their soft kisses became the complete opposite. Maura's tongue was grazing Jane's lower lip, trying to make its way inside her mouth. Jane in response opened her mouth, her tongue meeting Maura's and making both women groan.

"I have been wanting to do this for so long." Jane said while taking a deep breath before claiming Maura's lips again. "You are so beautiful."

Maura felt Jane's hands make her way to her buttocks and slightly press them, which made Jane groan and kiss her harder. "Me too Jane, me too."

If it wasn't for the honk of the car outside, Jane and Maura were completely aware that they would have missed the play and instead enjoy Maura's bed during the whole night. They separated and smiled brightly to each other. Jane immediately took Maura's hand and made their way to the car, where they only found a driver waiting for them. Surprised, Maura took a letter that he gave them.

_Dear Maura, _

_I hope you enjoy your date with Jane. Sadly, my flight got cancelled and I find myself stuck in Milan. Still, I suspect that you both are not too saddened about this. Do enjoy yourselves, my treat, and spare no expense. Say hi to Det. Rizzoli for me and be safe always. _

_Love you always, _

_Constance_

"I think your mom planned this whole thing." Jane said happily.

Maura was embarrassed. "Well, she wasn't wrong. I think I will enjoy this evening in other ways now." she said flirtingly.

"You mean, like when we are watching the play?" Jane said surprised. Not that she was against it, but she certainly didn't know that Maura could be so bold.

Maura started to laugh. "No Jane, don't be ridiculous. Besides, I do think that watching this play will benefit your general knowledge of French literature and theater. Before my mom even planned this, I had the desire of taking you to see the play."

"Come on Maur, I saw the movie. In there truly anything different in the play?"

Maura stayed quiet. Jane was smiling brightly, knowing she had won that round.

"I mean, there shouldn't be because the movie was based on the play which was based on the book Les Miserables written by Victor Hugo. Did you know that it took Victor Hugo 32 years to complete the novel, which is divided in 5 different segments: Fantine, Cosette, Marius, The Idyll in the Rue Plumet and the Epic in the Rue St. Denis and finally Jean Valjean." Maura said excitedly.

Jane just stared her. "Seriously Maur? After what we just did, you go all Wikipedia on me?" she said sarcastically.

"As I told you before, Wikipedia is not a trustworthy source, most of its articles..."

"Are not peer reviewed." Jane finished for her. "I know, I know." she smiled sweetly.

Maura smiled happily at Jane, who was taking her hand and getting inside the car. She could see the driver smiling warmly at them and starting to take them to the theater. For some reason, she suspected that her mother was going to get a full update of her date with Jane. _Her date, _she thought to herself. She was still at awe at what happened at her apartment, and almost thought that it was all a figment of her imagination, that option being eliminated when Jane took her hand and kissed it. Maura smiled and made her way to Jane's mouth, were she planted her lips and gave her a chaste kiss.

"I know that this should feel strange, but for me, it's completely normal. Like this is where we were supposed to be since the moment we met." Jane said.

Maura nodded. "It feels so normal that it scares me."

"Why?"

"Because what if we lose this and our friendship on the way. I don't think I could live in a world without Jane Rizzoli in it." she said quietly. "To have Jane Rizzoli as a lover would be a dream, but to lose Jane Rizzoli as a friend in order to achieve this would be too devastating."

Jane looked at Maura and took her hands, making Maura look at her. "Tell me Maur, do you trust me?"

"I trust you with my life Jane, and you know that."

"Then trust us and give us a chance. This." she said pointing at them. "Is not lust. This is something deeper Maur, and I would like to find out that we could be." she said while kissing Maura on the cheek. "Would you like to find out?" she added with a hint of concern.

Maura smiled brightly. "There is nothing else that I wouldn't want to do."

* * *

He made his way to the dressing room of Mrs. Fitzmore, the waiting torturing him. If his calculations were correct, _Who was he kidding, his calculations were always correct, _ then after the first act of the play was done, he would be able to take Mrs. Fitzmore to a more secluded scene. He already has his tools in place, now the only thing that was missing was his frame. He quickly looked to the stage: the theater was full, just as he expected it to be. People were finally going to see his art. The media was very vague about his previous piece, and that made him get angry. He didn't expect the media to be this coy, but then again, their hands were tied. That made him understand that the only way in which people would see his work was by making the people see it face to face, not expecting other parties to show it.

**"Tomorrow we'll discover, what our God in heaven has in store." **he heard the Company sing.

Smiling brightly he went inside Mrs. Fitzmore room.

**"One more dawn." **He could barely contain his smile as he started to hide inside of her closet.

**"One more day." **He could feel the adrenaline going through his body, already wanting to find its release. It had been quite a while.

**"One day more!" **He sang quietly along. He heard the audience clap while he heard voices afar. The actors were making their way back to their rooms. When the door opened he smiled to himself. _It's showtime. _

* * *

Jane had barely made it through the half of the first act and she felt like falling asleep. When Maura told her that it differed with the movie, she expected for it to at least have some dialogue. She was wrong, it was the complete opposite. What made the whole thing worth it was that Maura was truly enjoying herself. With the years she found out that when Maura was happy everyone was happy. That and also the fact that when something bad happened to a character Maura would jump and grab her hand didn't hurt either. She smiled when she felt that Maura was looking at her, and turned around to see hazel eyes look at her with love and care.

"Thank you so much Jane for coming with me." she said quietly.

"I'm glad to be here." she said honestly while kissing her hand.

The first act was already done and they made their way to the bathrooms. Maura had looked at her with concern.

"Did you know that a study in Colorado found out 12 different types of bacteria in public restrooms, bacteria that can be transmitted by touching the different surfaces." Maura said while taking a disinfectant and cleaning her hands. Jane just looked straight, pretending to not know Maura and made her way to the line. After what felt like forever, Jane and Maura finally made their way back to their seats. It was just on time because the curtains were lifted and the second and final act started. Jane was starting to fall asleep when Maura poked her arm.

"That woman, the one that played Madame Thenardier, is another one now." she told Jane quietly.

"Really Maur, how do you even notice this? They look and sound exactly the same." Jane said surprised.

"The height is a little bit different, and the way the first Thenardier finished the notes was a lot cleaner. This one is a replacement. I wonder what..." Maura said while gasping.

Jane turned around to see what Maura was looking, holding her gaze and freezing in place. The music stopped and soon enough everyone started to scream. Right there on the curtain was a body, completely naked and facing the audience. Blood was dripping from it, and Jane saw that it was completely cut open. She saw Maura standing up and making her way to the front of the theater, trying to stop people from contaminating the scene. Jane got right to it and took out her badge.

"Boston PD, everyone keep calm!" she screamed while moving around people and making her way towards the doors where she found a very young man trying to keep control. She stood in front of him.

"Do you have a walkie talkie with you?" she screamed.

The man just nodded and gave it to her. "This is Detective Jane Rizzoli from the Boston PD. Do not let anyone get out of the building and lock all the other doors."

She made her way to the front of the stage where Maura was keeping the scene clear from people.

"My name is Detective Jane Rizzoli from the Boston PD and with me is the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Dr. Maura Isles. We require your full cooperation since we are all standing on a crime scene. I know this is uncomfortable for all, but the faster we get your statements the faster we will be out of here."

Jane felt her phone vibrate and immediately took it out.

"Korsak. I'm in the Boston Opera House with Maura. Bring a team here, we have another murder, and I think that it is our same unsub from the park." she said while hanging up and going towards Maura. "How are you holding up?"

Maura looked at her. "Not so bad Jane. This is barbaric. The victim was cut open, again organs taken out of her body. I still don't know with what she got killed, but the faster we take her out of here the better. My team is already on its way." she said while standing up. "I can't believe we were here Jane and this happened."

"It scares me too Maura." she said quietly. "Almost as if the killer knew that we were going to be here."

"Could he have known?" Maura said scared.

"I don't know Maur, but this." she said pointing at the scene. "Is too bold, which makes me worry that our killer is more experienced than what we thought."

It took the crime lab team half an hour to get to the theater. Maura was mad. She knew that the longer it took for her to examine the body the more forensic evidence was going to be lost. She got exasperated when they started to take her to the van, telling her that the ride to the lab was also going to take half an hour. She just nodded and started to make her way to the van, but then she remembered that Jane was also having a lot of problems. She made her towards her, noticing that Detectives Korsak and Frost were already with her. Jane saw her and shot her a small smile, separating from them and meeting her halfway.

"Jane, we are ready with Jane Doe. We are going to take her to the crime lab and immediately start the autopsy."

Jane stopped her before she could say something else. "Remember that you told me that Madame whatever her name is was replaced, well, it was because they couldn't find her after the first act was done. So that makes me suspect that our victim is Mrs. Carla Fitzmore."

Maura was going to say something about speculation, but she knew that the situation was delicate. Jane saw this and smiled.

"I know that you don't like guessing, so I will just say that I'm working on a hypothesis."

Maura smiled at her. Sometimes she just wondered how Maura knew so much about her. "That's better Detective Rizzoli. I guess I will see you later?"

Jane smiled. "Yes, although I'm sad that we weren't able to fully enjoy each other's company." she husked quietly while taking her hand and quickly kissing it. "Don't think I have forgotten."

Maura smiled back. "Who said I forgot, Detective?"

Jane was going to answer her but they were interrupted by Korsak. "Jane, some people saw a man giving some flowers to Mrs. Fitzmore. We went to her dressing room to check for the flowers and they were gone."

"Also, I already got the footage of all the security cameras." Frost said while showing them a hard drive. "I'm going to download and look at them as soon as we make it back to the station."

"Good job you two. Let's just hope that our unsub's thirst for recognition made him make a mistake." Jane said quietly.


	4. The Marking

When he saw the two women make their way towards the front of the stage he was almost tempted to clap with happiness. It was too perfect to be true. Who would have thought that a detective and the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts were going to be there. But that wasn't the biggest surprise, no sir. The biggest surprise came when he saw the exchange between the two women. They were close, and this was something that excited him. He was already far away from the scene, absorbing it all through the cameras that the theater had installed. A few weeks before he had inserted a virus in the system that allowed him to control all the cameras of the building. He knew that they were not going to find anything, and taking advantage of the situation, he carefully enveloped a CD and a small note. He smiled while he imagined the face of the people when they saw what he did. The police were not going to be able to interfere with this piece of art. He went inside the media room of NBC and made his way to the front desk.

"Hello." he said to the receptionist. "I'm here to deliver some CDS to the media department." he said while smiling. "But I left my card in the car. Do you think you could send this their way?"

The woman smiled brightly at him. _Women are so easy to deceive. _"Sure thing, you can just leave it there." she said while pointing to a box. He quickly took a towel and cleaned the CD one more time before dropping it. He was really looking forward to the news today.

* * *

Jane was still wearing the dress that she used last night. She didn't like to use them because she felt that they made her body movements be limited, and besides, they were terrible for chasing and working. She knew that Korsak and Frost were dying to know why she was wearing the dress, _because they also knew that she would never use one on purpose. _Nevertheless, the killer was creating such a mess that the Boston PD was being filled with calls from concerned citizens and governments authorities that demanded answers. Jane was getting the heat from Lieutenant Cavanaugh, and she suspected that soon enough, and if things kept going like this, the FBI would be stepping in. This was the last thing she wanted, but she also had to admit that they were lost. They had no prints, no DNA, only more bodies pilling and bolder moves made by the unsub. This scared and worried her. Answers were the only thing that would help them clear the case, that and maybe some special help. She hated to even consider it, but when Korsak suggested the help of the BAU, a part of the FBI that specialized in profiling unsubs, she made the promise that if the autopsy came back with no results then she would make the call.

She felt nervous. She wasn't used to this kind of precision, of perfect killing and cleaning of a body. She always found something that could help Jane with their case, but with the last two bodies nothing had come up. No DNA, no prints, no blood, and more questions than answers arose from her autopsies. She had sent Jane a text to she would come to the morgue and was waiting for her to arrive. She hated to make things more difficult for her, and she could clearly see the stress that Jane was going through. Jane made her way inside the morgue and looked for Maura, who was sitting in her office. She got up and went to meet her outside, grabbing her hand and kissing it softly. Jane hummed her contentment.

"Hello Dr. Isles, is this why you called me?" she said huskily.

Maura smiled sadly. "You didn't sleep yesterday Jane." she said while touching her face with her fingers. "You need your sleep so you can be more alert."

"I can't sleep with the thought that we still don't have a single lead on this case." Jane answered angrily. "Please tell me that he messed up this time."

"I couldn't find anything Jane. No blood, no hair, no prints. He was precise, again, the woman was paralyzed but conscious when this happened. Same General Anesthesia drugs as the first body, same organs missing, only difference is that this body was not mutilated enough. I can confirm that this is indeed Mrs. Carla Fitzmore. Cause of death unclear because I'm missing organs, but I found a pattern in her neck that could infer to her being choked. Also, the paralyzing drug was not administer the same way. With this victim, the unsub made the drug be absorbed through the nostrils."

"Perhaps when she smelled the flowers?" Jane asked.

"Possibly. I would need to check the flowers for the presence of this drug."

"We looked for them everywhere near the perimeter. No sign of them."

"I'm sorry I can't be more helpful Jane." Maura said sadly.

Jane looked at her and took her hands. "You are doing your best, and that is all I can ask of you. Our unsub is too precise, which means that he has probably done this before. Because of this, I think that we need another kind of approach to this case. A more psychological one."

"Are you going to call the BAU Jane?" Maura asked. She had heard about the BAU working with some detectives here in Boston, but never with Jane. And she knew how Jane felt about the FBI.

"Yeah, I mean, we are not getting anything from the bodies. And he is killing fast, only two days of difference. Although it pains me to admit it, we need the BAU."

Maura was making her way to her car, wanting to just go to her house and sleep what she didn't sleep last night. She was frustrated because she felt useless, and staying in the precinct only reminded her of this. Now that Jane was going to call the BAU team she knew that she had to get all the files and important information ready for them to check it. In order to do that she first needed to take a nice lap so she wouldn't be crampy with her team. Of course, fate had different plans for her, and by fate she meant Angela Rizzoli. She loved Angela like a mother, but right now the only thing that she wanted was go to sleep. Nevertheless, her long years of etiquette made it impossible for her to tell Angela this, instead nodding and taking a seat at the cafeteria.

"So how was the play yesterday?" Angela asked her.

Maura just drank her coffee. "It was ok."

"Did Jane do something to upset you?" Angela asked angrily. "If she did I will kill that girl."

"No Angela, Jane was absolutely wonderful yesterday." Maura said, smiling at the memory. "It's just that we had another murder, right there at the opera during the show."

Angela gasped. "That's horrible, are you ok darling?" she said while grabbing her face and taking her temperature _so motherly like. _

"Yes, I'm just really tired. I haven't been home since I left for the play last night."

"Why didn't you say so darling? You must be so tired and here I am talking like crazy."

Maura was going to tell her that it was fine, but a voice interrupted them.

"Because Maura is nice and she can never say no to anything you ask of her." Jane said sarcastically while sitting in front of her.

Maura smiled warmly.

"Unlike you, who somehow ended without modals." her mom said angrily. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm ok, but dying for a cup of coffee and a nice breakfast."

Angela smiled and excused herself, making her way towards the kitchen. Jane and Maura took a deep breath.

"Thank you Jane." Maura said while putting her head in her arms and closing her eyes. "I just don't have the patience to talk right now."

Jane smiled. "Not even with me?" she said flirtingly.

Maura smiled. "I always need patience to talk with you Jane."

"Touche." Jane said while taking Maura's hand and squeezing it. "You know, I think I'm doing a very poor job with this case."

"If someone is to blame Jane, it's me. I can't find anything on the bodies, which doesn't make your job any easier and..." Maura stopped talking because Jane was putting her finger in her mouth.

"I was going to say that I was doing a poor job because all I could think about was your lips on mine." she said huskily. "I was trying to be flirty."

"Oh." Maura said. "Well in that case we have both been doing a terrible job." she smiled while kissing Jane's fingers. Jane gasped.

"Stop doing that."

"Stop doing what?" Maura asked while taking Jane's finger and putting it inside her mouth.

Jane closed her eyes and started to hyperventilate. "Making me all horny and then leaving me here."

Maura smiled. "You can join me." she whispered.

"What are you two whispering?" Angela said while making her way to the table. Jane and Maura jumped a little and separated from their position. Angela noticed this and smiled.

"Nothing that concerns you Ma." Jane said angrily. "Besides, why don't you have the TV on. Isn't that why people go to a cafe, to think about something else than work?"

Angela just mimicked Jane's complain and went to get the control. "Always so bitter. No one likes a bitter woman." Angela said while smiling. "Bless the person who will be able to put up with you." she added while blinking at Maura.

Both women opened their mouths surprised, but before they could say something Angela gave Jane the remote and went to the kitchen.

"It wouldn't surprise me that by now the whole department knew that we are dating." Jane said quietly.

"So, we are dating now?" Maura asked curiously.

"Yeah, I mean, if that's what you want. Or I interpreted things wrong." Jane started to say but Maura kissed her softly on the lips.

"I like that." Maura simply said, making Jane smile. "Now, why don't you turn on that TV? After all, you did ask your mom for it.

Jane turned the TV on and saw that channel five had an exclusive about what the media were calling the Kenmore Park killer. She turned the volume up.

'We interrupted our usual programming show because of what we just got from our media office. This is the first time that we will see this images here in the newsroom, but we were cautioned by the media office that there are strong signs of violence and gore. We got notice that there was an incident at the Boston Opera yesterday night during the show of Les Miserables. The nature of the incident was left unclear by the police, but now we have evidence that shows that what happened was the murder of one of the actors of the play.'

Jane stood up quietly, trying to get closer to the TV and pressing the volume bottom up. The people that were in the cafeteria also turned to look at the screen. Maura saw that the camera was facing the stage, and on the background you could hear the actors singing, but then their voice being shadowed by a stronger one.

'And he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.'

"Revelations, 13-17" Maura whispered.

Jane saw that the camera changed and was coming towards a room with the name Fitzmore in it. Jane gasped as she saw the door open and the camera face a mirror with a man in black clothes and a mask saying hi to them. He hid inside the closet and was laughing quietly. After a while they heard the main door open and a petite woman come inside while quickly going to sit down. She looked confused and tired, and when she stayed still, the man opened the door and went behind her. Maura saw that the woman was trying to say something, but the man just hushed her and made her stand up. The man was making her walk forward while he stayed behind and got the flowers. The screen turned black, and Maura was hoping that this was the end, but then the same woman naked in a wooden table was being shown by the camera. Her personal parts were covered by black boxes, but it was still too horrible. Jane was speechless, and when she turned to see Maura she saw the same expression that she probably had. The precinct had suddenly turned quiet, and Jane saw that Frost and Korsak were also here. The man had the camera on top of his head, according to the angle from which this was shot. He made his way to the woman, and taking out a knife, he started to cut her stomach in a Y incision. The woman's fingers twitched in pain, but no sound came of her. The torture continued, and Jane almost threw up when the unsub took out her left breast and kissed it.

"Why is she not screaming?" Jane whispered. "Why is she not screaming?"

"It's the drugs Jane. He drugged her so she wouldn't make a sound." Maura answered while softly crying.

The man had now finished cutting her leg, and with a gasp from the audience he tore it apart from the woman. This made Jane grab the plate where she had her food and throw up on it.

"That makes five organs." Maura said quietly. "He now needs to take the heart."

Maura watched as the killer made his way to the chest of the woman, already unconscious because of the pain. Maura was hoping that she died because of a cardiac arrest based on the shock that she had been put through. When the killer made the camera focus on the heart, she saw that it was still beating. This made her cry even more. The woman had suffered till the end, and when he grabbed the heart and just took it out, Maura held her breath. The killer faced the camera.

'There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.'

"Again, Revelations 17."

Jane nodded, nothing else in her mind after watching this. But then she froze when she saw that the killer pointed to the camera, noticing how he focused on Maura and her when they went to the front of the stage. She saw Maura gasp and took her hand immediately.

"He knew Jane, he knew." Maura started to say out of control.

Jane didn't know what to answer, she was also scared.

'Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.' the killer finished and the camera turned off.

Jane was speechless, and from what she gathered, everyone else in the cafeteria. She sat down, and when she felt a hand on top of hers, she saw that it was Maura and squeezed it tightly. The newsman appeared on camera, completely spooked.

'I don't really know what to say.' he said honestly. 'What we just saw does not have words to explain the level of cruelty and craziness in it. Everyone be careful, specially women, and any information you may have you can forward it to the Boston PD.' he said while standing up. The signal ended and cartoons appeared instead.

Jane felt Korsak and Frost approach them.

"This is more serious than what we thought." Korsak said quietly. "We are facing here someone that is out of our control and comfort zone. Someone who has done this before."

Jane nodded. "I did contact the BAU, they said that they would analyze their case and wait for their call." Jane said until she heard her phone.

'Rizzoli.'

'Detective Rizzoli, this is Special Agent Jennifer Jareau. We spoke a few hours ago.'

'You saw it, didn't you' Jane whispered.

'It's national news now. Everyone saw it.'

'We are lost here, and scared. This is hitting close at home.'

'And why is that?' she heard Jennifer ask her.

'Because the Chief Medical Examiner and I were the two women that the killer focused the camera on.' Jane said quietly.

There was silence on the line for a while.

'We will be there in five hours.'

And with that she hung up. Jane looked up and saw Korsak, Frost and Maura look expectantly at her.

"They are coming."


	5. Firsts

**Small note: Thank you so much for your support with this story. I really appreciate it and I'm having fun writing it. Suggestions and comments are more than welcome. Medical terms and psychological profiles are all done by me, so if you see some mistakes I apologize. :) **

* * *

He was happily jumping from side to side. After turning the TV off he decided to go outside and see what people said. When he heard that most discussions were about his art piece he became ecstatic. He was finally getting the attention that he deserved. _Took them long enough, _he thought. Without him noticing he was even whistling, which meant that things couldn't be better. His father had taught him that a happy man was the man who whistled a happy tune. That, and that their mission was to save the world. It had to pass a lot of time, and the death of his father, until he understood what this meant. He was reckless once, he lived in temptation and sin. He ate the flesh of the world and drank the sin of the devil, but then he converted. His father's death was his wake-up call from the slumber of laziness. He can still remember when they were living in his farm. His mother had abandoned them when he turned 10, _a sinner who refused to leave her old ways, _his father had told him. He was young and refused to believe it, but when he left home and went to look for her, he realized that his father had been right. That was his first kill, and the one that he had tried to repeat ever since, failing every single time. The women that he met had some of the traits that her mother had: some were beautiful, others were smart and where some lacked brains they had passion and lust. His mother had all of these traits, and while he was trying to compensate, he knew that he was never going to be completely satisfied. Now, the only person that probably understood the way he felt was his father, who welcomed him like the prodigal son when he returned with what remained of his mother, or Babylon the great. When he found out that her mother was living with others and had multiple relationships, intimate relationships, he knew that she was lost, and just like God said he would do, he punished her. It was gruesome and painful, but his duty, and after a couple more killings, he had grown accustomed and actually enjoyed them. The thrill and control of deciding when and how to end a life, to see the light of their eyes go away and keep the things that they cared most about, it was intoxicating.

He smiled as he saw the flowers that were on his table. They were turning yellowish, a clear sign of decay. He didn't want them to go wasted, and since he knew that he was going to leave his home for a while, he decided to send them to someone who may need them. The internet was truly helpful, especially when someone wanted to find the information and address of people. He wrote a short letter, and when he was satisfied with it he closed it and set it on top of the flowers. Making one last check at his place, he opened the door and left. He remembered that there was a post office a few miles away, and when he made it there he smiled and paid for immediate delivery. He already knew where he wanted to go, and while smoking a cigar, he saw that he was already outside of channel five. This was the most boring part: the waiting. He wasn't the most patient person, but nevertheless he knew the importance of choosing the right moment to attack. With a syringe on his pocket ready, he saw as his mark left the building and started to walk to the parking lot. He had analyzed and studied this scene: he knew that at this time the guard usually went to grab a coffee, which took him five minutes tops. It was more than enough. Without drawing attention to himself, he made his way to the car of the mark, waiting for him to get there too. When he saw that his mark had his back on him, he took the syringe and pushed it on his neck. The mark gasped, trying to stay awake and in control of his body. Without much effort he pushed the mark inside his car on the back, and quickly took his place in the passenger seat. He knew about the cameras there, and he really didn't care. They had seen him already anyway, and to eliminate security was going to take him longer, him being already behind schedule. Without a second glance, he started the car and quickly drove away. This night he was going to have fun. This night he was going to make art.

* * *

Maura was not going to lie. After watching that video she was scared. Specially because the man made a direct threat to Jane and her. So, when she heard that the BAU was going to be on their way, she was relieved. And from what she saw after Jane finished that talk on the phone, so was she. Korsak told them that until the BAU got there they could head home and rest. They were already used to Jane being in danger, and now that she thought about it, Jane somehow had a magnet for this kind of people, and after almost being killed by Charles Hoyt twice, then shot by a dirty cop, kidnapped by her psychotic baker, victim of a car bomb explosion, and so many other things that Maura had a hard time remembering. They had to convince Jane to leave the precinct, her fear filling her refusal to rest, but after Cavanaugh also came and ordered her to leave, she had no choice. They made their way to Maura's place, already a routine that they had during their friendship. Without even asking for permission, Jane opened the door, took her shoes off and went straight to the bed. Maura followed her inside and did the same. This reminded her of the first time that they spent the night together, which was ironically when Charles Hoyt escaped the police. It seemed so long ago.

_"I have never been so scared in my life." Jane said while grabbing her hands and twisting them._

_Maura knew that she was touching her injuries from that encounter with Hoyt. Jane had never told her about that incident, mostly hearing Korsak's version and, without no one knowing, peeking at her medical file._

_"Do they still hurt?" she asked quietly while grabbing her hands and squeezing them lightly._

_Jane flinched a little, but didn't take her hands away. "I know they shouldn't, and you probably think I'm crazy, but when I think about him they do." she whispered._

_Maura nodded and started to massage her hands. She saw Jane close her eyes, her breathing changing. "It's not crazy at all. Did you know that our nerves have a memory of their own? They are capable of feeling and remembering sensations that they went to if they are triggered by images."_

_Jane smiled warmly. "Thank you, for telling me in more than one word that I'm not crazy."_

_Maura smiled. "You are welcome. Sorry if I can't say anything else, but I never really knew how. I assume you are familiar with the nickname that the precinct has given me?"_

_Jane nodded softly. "I'm sorry, I thought you didn't know about it."_

_Maura smiled sadly. "Trust me Jane, I'm aware. Being called the Queen of the Death by almost the whole department is not something that is easily missed."_

_"They don't know you as well as I do." Jane said while taking Maura's hand. "Look at me." she whispered when Maura lowered her gaze. "It is true that sometimes you can be direct, and honest, and maybe a little straight-up, but that's not bad at all. Maura, you are a gift."_

_Maura looked up and saw Jane focusing on her, resolution and honesty in her eyes. "A gift?" she asked surprised._

_"Yes. You see, people are usually afraid of telling the truth, and often hide themselves under the behaviors that society expect of them, making them in the end be fake and mediocre. You Maura, you are the complete opposite. It wouldn't surprise me to see that they are jealous of you and what you have accomplished." Jane said while smiling brightly. "And besides, it's not the first time that our completely 'female friendly' precinct has said 'pleasant' things about us."_

_Maura smiled brightly. "I may know what you mean."_

_Jane looked at her seriously. "What do you mean?"_

_Maura stayed quiet. She had slipped up. Jane saw this and pushed her. "Tell me Maura, and I know you can't lie because you will get hives if you do."_

_"Well, I may have heard some detectives calling you names." Maura said uncomfortably._

_"Like what?" Jane whispered angrily._

_"Like Jane... the Nut Butcher?" Maura whispered the last word._

_Jane stayed quiet and frozen for a while, making Maura nervous. When Jane started laughing Maura relaxed and laughed with her too. That day was the day when Maura Isles realized that she could open her heart to people, but most specially open her heart to Jane Rizzoli._

"Where did you go?" Jane asked her, looking smartly at her. "You were in your own world for a while."

"I was thinking."

"Care to elaborate?"

"I was thinking that we always seem to have a heartfelt talk when we are here in my bed."

"We do?" Jane asked while smiling. "Well, maybe we should change that?" she husked the last question.

Maura yelped a little, but smiled when Jane hopped on top of her. "And here I was trying to be romantic"

"Tell me what you were thinking." Jane said while kissing Maura's ear. "A kiss for your thoughts."

"I was thinking about our first sleepover." Maura whispered.

Jane kissed her in the neck. "I think that day was the one I started to fall for you."

Maura smiled. "Oh really?"

"Yeah, it was so weird, finding you so vulnerable, it was really sweet." Jane whispered while kissing her shoulder.

Maura noticed that she was going lower and lower. This made her move her hips, hoping for more contact. "Jane." she hummed while looking for Jane's lips.

Jane kissed Maura while putting her hands on her hips, their kisses getting deeper and deeper by the second.

"You know..." Jane whispered while softly kissing Maura's lips. "I like the fact that we are doing this for the first time in your bed. This is the bed of firsts." Jane said while smiling.

Maura smiled. "Stop talking and kiss me." she demanded from Jane while pulling her closer.

Jane immediately complied and kissed her, along with putting her hands near her pants. Maura gasped and pushed Jane's hand closer to her core. _She was ready for this, _Jane thought. She was ready to make love to Maura and make her want more, but apparently life had other plans for her because her phone rang.

"Ignore it." Maura said angrily while kissing Jane without control.

Jane ignored the phone and kept her spot near Maura, but then her phone also rang.

"Now I think we should answer." Maura said upset. It took all of Jane's strength to push herself away from Maura, but of course not before she kissed her deeply. Maura hummed.

"Don't start something that you can't finish, Detective Rizzoli." Maura said quietly. "Because if you don't finish it then I will." Maura threatened while answering her phone.

'Isles.'

Jane stayed frozen in place, Maura's last statement making her almost lose control of herself and have warm feelings in her extremities. She tried to focus back on what Maura was saying.

'Yes, she is here. Yes, we will be on our way.' she finished while hanging up.

Jane looked expectantly at her.

"There was another murder." Maura said quietly.

* * *

Jane and Maura made their way to the crime scene quickly. They were outside of channel five, and when they saw the victim they gasped. It didn't matter how, but this killer kept making them gasp for air and hold their food. If they thought that the first murder was tough, then this one was horrific. There was a body, clearly mutilated, the face completely destroyed and with rats on top of it looking at them. Jane could have sworn that she was going to just throw up right there, and when she saw Maura go to the back she knew that she did the same. After a while she saw Maura come back, resolution on her gaze.

"We need to get the rats..." she said as she felt a wave of puke overcome her. "out of here before they damage more our scene." she finished while looking away for a while.

"Maura, you can do this in the autopsy room." Jane said while grabbing her hand.

"No Jane, the longer we wait, the less chance that we will have at finding evidence." Maura said quietly. "And this person doesn't deserve this Jane."

Jane nodded, turning around and away from the scene when she heard Korsak call him. Maura told her to go and without much of a choice she went to meet him near the yellow tape. He was with two women who clearly looked like out of Boston.

"Jane." he said quietly. "The BAU just got here. These are Special Agents Emily Prentiss and Jennifer Jareau." he said while pointing at them.

They shaked hands.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to welcome you." Jane said quietly. "My name is Jane Rizzoli and I'm glad you are here."

"Thank you." Emily said while stepping closer. "We are here to help you with anything we can."

"Right now I could use two new set of eyes." Jane said as she gestured them to come. They made their way to the body quietly, none saying what was on their mind.

When she saw Maura standing up and looking at the three women expectantly Jane introduced them all.

"I'm very glad you are here." Maura said while looking at them. "In all my years, I have never seen something like this." she said. "Are you sure you want to see the body now?"

"Well, that's why we are here." Jennifer said while smiling sadly.

Maura allowed them access and took them to the back where the body was being covered. Jane saw the women look at it, and when Jennifer couldn't hold it anymore, Emily motioned for her to go back and wait for her. Jane nodded in understanding: no one was ready for this kind of scene.

"He changed his MO." Emily said quietly. "Too fast and too precise."

"Yes, although he still removed the same organs than before, well with exception of the penis."

"This clearly makes the profile be more complicated. You see." Emily said while looking at Maura and Jane. "We came with a profile ready, based on the information you provided us, but this." she said while pointing at the scene. "Does not fit at all with the previous crime. This one is messier, which means that the killer knew this person."

Jane nodded. "I thought that there were more on your team." she said when she noticed that there were the only two on the scene.

"Yes, well you see, we were already on a case in Detroit. Nevertheless, we are truly worried about this killer and what he is doing nationally. We fear that he may inspire other killers to act, and based on this fear our director SA Hotcher decided to separate the team. I'm here with SA Jareau and Dr Spencer Reid, who is at the precinct going through the evidence from the previous murders in order to build a profile."

Jane was going to answer her, but then her expression changed to anger. "Really? They never rest." she said while pointing at the reporters that were gathering around the perimeter. "They are giving him names already."

"I saw. And don't worry, Jennifer is going to take care of them." she said as she pointed to her partner who was already in front of the cameras.

They were interrupted by Maura who had made her way to the front of the building where they had been standing.

"I already processed the scene. Hopefully we will find something." she said to the two women. "And I will be starting the autopsy tomorrow morning. You and your fellow agents can come." she said to Emily who nodded warmly.

Maura was going to leave the two women alone when she heard Jane excuse herself and follow her to her car.

"Jane I'm..." she said while she felt Jane kiss her lips softly. "ok."

"I know, I just needed to do that." she told her while smiling softly.

"Will you come later?" Maura asked her shyly.

"Yes. I don't think I will be able to stay alone at my apartment." she whispered.

"Ok. I will see you later then. And please." she added worriedly. "Be safe."

Jane nodded and saw Maura's car drive away. When she turned around to look for Emily she saw her close to Jennifer, her hand close to her back and scrubbing it sweetly.

"It's bad, isn't it?" she told them, noticing that they separated immediately. Despite herself she smiled.

"It's not good." Jennifer said quietly. "And I'm truly sorry about before."

"Hey, no need to apologize. I don't think anyone can be prepared for that kind of scene."

"Well, at least the media are being taken care of." Emily said while looking at the pool of reporters.

"Yeah, well, I may promised them the name of the victim as soon as we had it." Jennifer said quietly.

"It's better than having them filling our killer dreams of glory." Jane said bitterly.

The two women nodded while following Jane to her car. Emily took the front seat and Jennifer went to the back.

"Wanna go to the precinct to meet with your partner and then have a driver take you to your hotel?" Jane asked them quickly. "We can't process the body or start the autopsy until early morning anyway.

The two women looked at each other. "That would be nice. We haven't slept in a bed for a while." Jennifer said.

"So you just go around the country solving cases like this all the time non-stop?" Jane asked them surprised. She couldn't see herself leaving her home and family for that long.

"Yes, the sacrifice is big, but the gratifications are great." Emily said as if hearing Jane's thoughts. "We get to take very bad people out of the streets."

"Good." Jane said seriously. "Because there is one here in Boston right now."


	6. New Old Habits

**Author's note: I keep getting surprised by all the responses, favorites and follows that I get with this story. They are truly appreciated and they make me want to write even more. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Without further do, here is chapter 6.**

* * *

Jane was tired. Now that she thought about it, tired was an understatement. She was dead, and the arrival of the BAU agents made things even more difficult. This case had the Boston PD in a media parade that only seemed to intensify with the presence of the team. When they arrived to the hotel where the BAU women were going to stay, they saw that it was infested with media reporters.

_"You've gotta be kidding me." Jane said angrily. "They are even here?!"_

_The two women just shrugged and started to grab their stuff. Jane stopped them. _

_"No way. You are staying here until I make the reporters leave." she said while getting out of the car. _

_She was immediately faced with cameras and lights, which made her get disoriented for a while, but nevertheless she still headed for the door of the building. _

_"Is it true that you invited the BAU to help you catch the Kenmore Park killer?" one reporter asked her. Jane just whisked away._

_"Do you even trust the Special Agents that were assigned to help you?" a woman asked while separating from the group and grabbing Jane's hand, making her stop short. _

_"If you don't let go of my hand I will arrest for harassment and obstruction of justice." she said angrily. The woman stepped back. _

_"Before you trust them with your investigation and our safety you should ask them what happened to them." the woman kept on saying. _

_Jane just ignored her and addressed the whole lot of reporters. "I promise you that if you don't leave I will arrest each one of you for harassment. And trust me, I don't care about filling the paperwork." she said angrily. _

_The reporters grabbed their stuff and started to head away, murmuring words like 'she will see' and 'wait till you read the headlines tomorrow' but Jane could only think about what that woman told her. She suspected that it was just a ruse to get her to pay attention to her, but still, the doubt was there. She quickly took her phone. _

_'Frost, I want you to quickly check the background of Jennifer Jareau, Emily Prentiss and Spencer Reid.'_

_'The FBI agents from the BAU?' he asked surprised. 'Are you even sure that this is ok?' _

_'No, but I just got faced by a reporter who said that we can't trust them because they have personal issues.' she said angrily. 'And even if that was a lie, I would still feel more comfortable with you checking.' _

_'Ok Jane, give me ten minutes and I will send you a message.' he said while hanging up. _

_Jane went to the car where the two women were waiting. _

_"Is something wrong?" Emily asked her while facing her. "You know, we are profilers right?" _

_Jane just laughed quietly. "I don't know yet. But we better move to the building before more reporters come back." _

_The three women were heading towards the room where they were going to stay. They barely spoke to one another and Jane welcomed the silence. She had too much on her mind, and this new information about the agents was not welcoming at all. _

_"Detective Korsak is driving Dr. Reid from the precinct. He is going to come to let you know that they both made it safely here." Jane said while motioning for the women to go inside the room. _

_"Thank you, you didn't have to take us." Jennifer said while grabbing Jane's hand and squeezing it._

_Jane just nodded. Emily also took her hand and smiled. "I know that something is bothering you, and that it was something that one of the reporters told you." she said to her. _

_"That's a lot of speculation." Jane said quietly. She smiled to herself, she now sounded like Maura. _

_"Well, profiling is just that: Educated speculation." Emily said while motioning for Jane to come inside the room and sit. "And I think that you are stalling. So why not better trust each other and just ask us what you asked one of your partners to research?" this she added while smiling warmly. _

_Jane just nodded, realizing that she had been caught. She felt her phone vibrate and she immediately took it out. _

_'Prentiss was kidnapped and stabbed by a Russian mob boss who was related to her. Jareau also got kidnapped and tortured. Reid was kidnapped and tortured with drugs which led to him be addicted to them for a while. They are all clean now.' she read the text from Frost. _

_"I guess that is our cue to sit down and answer your questions?" Emily said while motioning for Jennifer to take a seat too. _

_"A reporter told me that you had some history of sorts." Jane started to say quietly. She knew that she was no one to ask them this question. They had been victims and had made it through. Jane had also been a victim, and there was no one judging her for that. She felt wrong. _

_"I know it's not my business at all, and I know how you must feel with me asking you these questions. I worry everyday that people will ask them to me." Jane said quietly while grabbing her hands. _

_Jennifer and Emily stayed quiet, looking at the detective grab her hands. They knew what was coming. _

_"Are you ok with this case?" Jane finally said looking at them deeply. "What I mean is, can we, can I, trust you with this?" _

_"What happened to us did take its toll as you can imagine." Jennifer said quietly. "And just as you grab your hands, which is a reminder of what happened to you, we have our ways of coping." she whispered. "What happened to me was awful and traumatizing. And it still hurts, I won't deny it, but I find my own way of facing it. You see, if it wasn't for Emily here." she said while looking at Emily with love. "I would have died that day." _

_Jane just nodded, feeling embarrassed about asking them such personal questions. _

_"And in my case, I was lost during some time. I got involved with the wrong people, fell in love with the wrong man, and that almost cost me my life. I escaped once, but then my past caught up with me." Emily said while looking at Jane with sadness. "After that, the life that I had started to build with my friends in the BAU was almost shattered, and well, I almost died. After that, I had to think for a while about my future and what I wanted to do. I was scared of course, I mean, who wouldn't. But nevertheless, I found myself back in the BAU helping my friends solve cases and trying to save as many lives as possible." _

_"I'm so sorry for asking you to tell me this." Jane said again while looking down. _

_"Don't be. And we could have chosen to not tell you if we didn't want to." Emily said while smiling. _

_"Besides, I think it's the first time that we feel willing enough to share our story. Maybe because you lived it too." Jennifer said smiling. _

_"I guess it is." Jane said while smiling. _

When she stopped her car at Maura's place she took a deep breath. It was surprising how much peace she felt by already feeling that she was close to Maura. Jane smiled and quietly went to knock on Maura's door.

"Jane." Maura said quietly while smiling warmly.

She was going to say something else but then Jane kissed her and pushed her inside the house. They quickly made it to the room and Jane started to remove all of Maura's clothes. Without much pause Jane took her clothes off too.

"Not that I don't feel happy about this, and not that I don't want it to happen, but I feel that there is something you want to tell me." Maura whispered while kissing Jane back.

Jane ended the kiss and looked at Maura shyly. "I had never thought about it before, but you have always been by my side. During the good and the bad. I never understood why, and I think that I fooled myself into thinking that it was because that is what friends do. But now I realize that it was because you love me." Jane finished while looking up to Maura and smiling. "And I was so damn blind that I didn't see it sooner."

Maura smiled too and kissed Jane softly, lovingly, trying to communicate everything that she felt for Jane into that kiss. "I was worried about telling you how I felt sooner, worried that it could have scared you and make you run away from me."

"Silly Dr. Isles." Jane said heartily. "There is no way I will ever leave you. I love you too. I always have."

Maura kissed her again. Hungrily this time, and from this kiss Jane knew that they were done taking. Now, now it was time for showing Maura how she felt. Jane smiled, she was going to make Maura want to stay in bed the whole day.

* * *

So Detective Jane Rizzoli was the one in charge of his case. The famous detective who was the victim of Charles Hoyt, also known as The Surgeon. He felt honored about being chased down by such an important and accomplished detective. And it definitely made things more interesting and daring. He was starting to get a little bit bored with how things were going, his perfection led him to always follow a routine. But with this new discovery, he could probably deviate from his MO, _as profilers called it, _for a while in order to have a little bit of fun. Opening a new window on his explorer, he researched for the crimes that Charles Hoyt committed. They were complex, involving a wealthy couple and a couple of rituals that only made things more interesting. The fact that Detective Rizzoli managed to outsmart this man was brilliant, and he knew better than to get too attached to one person. He was not going to make that mistake. In fact, he was going to take advantage of that fear and use it to his advantage. He was going to use Detective Rizzoli's worst nightmare.

He went out, heading for the Beacon Hill. He knew that he would find there the victims that he wanted. It was one of the oldest neighborhoods in Boston, filled with the wealthiest families that lived in the city. Now that he was there, he quickly took his binoculars and started to look for possible candidates. He saw a young man with business clothes head for one of the houses, but when he saw that no one went to met him he discarded him. He needed a couple who was deeply in love, one who would be hurt from what he did psychologically. He looked at the next man who made it to the house. A young woman went outside to meet him, and soon enough a young boy followed. He discarded them. He didn't like to kill children, and he was not going to start today. When he saw a woman go to a house and being met by another woman who opened the door and kissed her warmly he realized that this was the couple that he was looking for. He quietly started to make his way to the back of the house, listening quietly to the women talk about random things. He didn't mind, and he waited patiently for them to relax. When one of the women excused herself to head to the bathroom and he knew that the moment to attack was now. He quickly took the tazzer out and pointed it to the neck of the woman, who shuttered quickly and then collapsed on the floor. He grabbed her quickly and tied her hands and legs to one of the chairs that were in the living room. He almost forgot to put duck tape on her mouth, and when he did he made his way back to the living room where the other woman would be walking back to. He stood behind the refrigerator, waiting. Right away he heard footsteps, and without waiting another second he took the tazzer out and quickly pointed it, aiming for the woman and not missing. She also collapsed after a few seconds, and while tying her up he saw that the other was up. It was time for the real thing to start. He quickly went back to the kitchen to grab a tea cup, and then he placed it on top of the legs of the woman who was sitting in the couch. When she woke up she told her to stay quiet, taking out a bistoury and pointing it to the neck of the woman in the chair.

"If you make a sound I will kill her." he said angrily.

The woman in the couch stayed quiet, crying softly. He knew that was his cue, and quickly he took his pants of and headed for the chair where the woman was crying. He took her panties off and started to just thrust into her without mercy. He heard the woman in the couch cry and scream without control, and when he was exhausted he stood up and went to face the other woman. He saw that the tea cup was on the floor, and without a thought he made a cut right in the middle of her neck. He quietly saw the blood flowing off the woman, and with new excitement he opened her chest and took her heart out. The woman in the chair was still screaming, and when he told her to shush he quietly made her grab the heart.

"Now, eat it." he said angrily.

The woman just looked at him, crying without control. When she refused he punched her in the face non-stop until she lost consciousness. This wasn't part of Hoyt's routine, but nevertheless it could still work. He dragged her out of the room and placed her inside his car quietly. Now that he was away from the house he had to do the next step. He had to take the woman to the forests and finish the job. This part he did it rather fast, and when she woke up he just took the knife and pushed it inside her neck. It was over now, and he didn't care. He just wanted for Detective Rizzoli to head to the house. He had a gift in store for her.


	7. One Heart

**Author's note: Another update, although its only one scene it's a very big one and we have the BAU doing what they do best with our favorite detectives. Hope you like it and suggestions are welcome :)**

* * *

When the phone rang for the third time, Jane knew that it was definitely time to wake up. She sure as hell didn't want to, and when she felt that Maura was lying right next to her, the more reason she had to stay. She angrily got the phone.

'Rizzoli.'

'About time you answer Jane.' She heard Korsak tell her. 'We have been trying to call you for the last hour. Where are you?'

Jane froze. They were still not sure about revealing their relationship to their friends. 'Yeah sorry Korsak. I am at Maura's. Fell asleep and didn't hear the phone.' She said as if it was the most normal thing.

'Bring the doc too Jane. She is also not answering.' Korsak said. 'We had another murder, and right now I'm picking the FBI agents from the hotel. Will meet you there.' He finished.

Jane quickly got up. Now she was really worried. The killer's MO was rapidly changing, and now, instead of waiting two days between kills, he was doing it per day. This was really bad. She looked at Maura and kissed her softly.

"Maura it's time to wake up." She said as sweet as possible. "There was another murder"

Maura opened her eyes quickly and looked around the room, recollection of the events that happened the night before dawning on her.

"Why haven't they called me yet?" she asked while checking her phone.

"They did. Three times. We were so tired that we didn't hear the phones."

Maura then finally reacted and quickly got up. "We are going to be so late." She squealed while going to the bathroom and turning on the shower.

"Come on Maur, there is no time for showers. Korsak is already on his way with the FBI agents." Jane said exasperated.

"I refuse to leave this house without looking my best." Maura said firmly. "And the longer you discuss it with me, the longer I will take."

Jane just nodded and went downstairs to fix some coffee and toasts. If she was going to wait for Maura, then she could at least eat something while she waited. It was 30 minutes until Maura came downstairs, and although Jane hated to admit it, the wait was totally worth it: Maura, as always, was looking amazing.

"Do you approve?" she asked Jane when she caught her staring.

Jane just smiled. "First time I'm that happy to be left waiting."

Both women smiled and quickly made their way to Jane's car. There Maura could drink her coffee and eat while Jane took them to the scene. She opened Korsak's text and read the address: It was a very nice neighborhood, and after a very easy drive they finally made it to the house. Jane saw the police cruisers already blocking the curious people from approaching and a barricade set up. She went to Maura's side and opened the door for her, getting a smile and small peck from her. Both made it to the front of the yellow line and took their ID's out.

"Jane Rizzoli, Boston Homicide."

"Dr. Maura Isles, Chief Medical Examiner."

The policeman that was at the front nodded and lifted the yellow tape, allowing them to go through without any more questions. Jane went straight in, no hesitation in her stride. Nevertheless, when she made it to the living room she stopped abruptly. She saw Korsak, Emily and Jennifer look at the body of a human who was tied and sitting in a couch. Maura saw Jane hesitate, and when she went ahead she understood why. This looked like a homicide committed by Charles Hoyt. She made it to the body and started to look around it: Cuts were precise, same location in the throat, bled out. Taser gun wound on the back of the ear and a teacup on the floor. She went around, trying to find an approximate time of death, and since the body was not in rigor mortis it could be said that it probably had 1 to 2 hours of death.

"I don't understand." Jane said suddenly, making all people look at her. Maura wanted to get up and console her, but before she even got the chance she saw Emily approach her and grab her hands. Expecting Jane to flinch and take them away, she was surprised when she didn't.

"I know what this looks like, and I know what you are feeling, but don't let him get to you." Emily told her fiercely. "He is playing with us, for him, all of this is a game that he wants to win. And in his mind, in order to win this game, he needs to show you that he is aware of your past."

Maura saw that Jane relaxed, and after taking a deep breath she went to where the body was.

"What do you think Maura?"

"It matches his MO. Approximate time of death two to three hours ago." She said simply, a little bit upset with how Jane interacted with Emily, who was a complete stranger. "I will take the body and start the autopsy right away." She finished while moving away from Jane.

Jane nodded and faced Emily, Jennifer and Spencer. "You read the case notes right?"

They all nodded. "I don't understand why the unsub changed the MO of Hoyt. Instead of it being the husband the one who saw the crime it was the wife." Reid said. "Maybe that could mean that our unsub is attracted to men."

"Or…" Jennifer said while going to the group with a picture. "Our killer is sending us a message." She gave them the picture.

"They were a same sex couple." Jane said quietly, immediately looking at Maura. "That's why one woman took the place of the man."

"Thinking about all your crimes, the only one that doesn't match is the killing of the man. Apart from that they have all been woman, different ages and backgrounds." Reid added.

"So then are we looking for a man that hates women." Emily said. "That is too broad. Something else that we don't know yet is motivating him."

"Maybe it's not the women, but what they represent." Jane said suddenly. "Remember the theory that we were talking about the other day Korsak?"

"Yeah Jane. We were saying that this killer is trying to de-womanize the victims, doing that by taking away all the organs that makes them be a woman."

"And in the case of the man it was personal." Jennifer said while looking up. "That's why that crime doesn't match in the MO."

"Perhaps our victim knew the killer and threatened to expose him?" Korsak asked.

"No, I think it goes deeper than that." Jane said. "Everything about that scene screamed unplanned."

"Maybe he wasn't expecting the victim to betray him."

"Jane is right. Killers like your unsub are incapable of working with someone. Their narcissistic nature gets in the way of creating friendships and relationships. He is doing all of this alone." Emily said.

"Maybe the autopsy will clear things up and help us in finding the pattern." Jane said. "I think this is the mistake that we were waiting for."

"I will try my best, but based on the effectiveness of the killer on the last scenes I can't promise anything." Maura said while facing the room.

Jane noticed that Maura was acting defensive and refusing to look at her. The last thing that she wanted was to have problems with Maura, whom she considered to be her rock. She grabbed Maura's hand in front of all the people there because now that she felt the danger so close to home she felt all inhibitions just plain silly.

"Is everything ok Maur?" she asked rather fiercely.

Maura looked at her surprised and then smiled softly. "Why of course Jane."

"Now I know that they are not. You just said 'why of course'." Jane told her quietly.

Maura quickly looked around the room, watching Korsak talk with Emily and Jennifer. "It's really nothing Jane. You didn't do anything wrong. It was all me and probably a dumb natural reaction."

"Natural reaction to what?" Jane asked her, trying to remember what happened that made Maura uncomfortable.

"The way the FBI agent held your hands, I wanted to do that. I don't know why I make such a big deal out of it, but I can't help it." She said quietly and lowered her gaze embarrassed.

Jane smiled softly and pushed her chin up. "That dear Dr. Isles is jealousy. Welcome to the human condition."

"But I have never felt jealous before." Maura said quickly.

"Well, then I feel honored." Jane said while smiling brightly. "That means you care."

"I care and a lot Jane. I don't think I could now be able to be in a world without you in it." She said more embarrassed than before.

"And I don't think I would be able to be in one without my dr. smartypants. No one can compare to you, ever." Jane said while kissing her forehead. "Also, I think Emily is interested in someone else."

Maura turned and saw how Emily was gravitating around Jennifer, and how she seemed to follow her everywhere. They glanced and stared at each other softly before smiling and then turning around, apparently completely unaware that everyone could see their exchange. Spencer Reid on the other hand was just in the middle of the two of them just talking and giving facts about different things.

"I see." Maura said while smiling. The two of them locked hands and went to where they were. Korsak saw them and smiled warmly, followed by Emily and Jennifer who just looked at their hands and then at each other.

"I am ready to take the body to the morgue. You can come and see the autopsy." Maura told the group. "Actually, the two autopsies. I still have the body from last night."

"We need the results as fast as possible Maura." Jane said quietly.

"Then I think I will need the assistance of Dr. Pike." Maura said quietly.

"No, not Dr. Pike!" Jane almost screamed. "He will make things be much slower. Wait, Agent Reid has a doctorate right?"

"Yes I do, but I don't have the medical knowledge to examine a human body." He said quickly.

"Well, you can help Dr. Isles analyze the results from the two autopsies?" she asked Maura.

"I wouldn't mind that at all." Maura said while smiling and facing Spencer. "I think we would gain a lot with you giving us your opinion."

He smiled back to Maura. "Well, in that case lead the way Dr. Isles."

Both smiled at each other and started to head out. Jane went after them. "We came in one car."

"Don't worry, I will go in the coroners van." Maura said. "You still need to finish processing the scene. When you are done come meet us." She finished while holding her hand and giving her a warm smile.

Jane nodded and watched Maura and Spencer leave. She then went back to the house and started to look around, trying to understand how the killer was able to subdue two strong and young women in less than 10 minutes.

"What I don't understand is why them." She said exasperated. This killer was making less and less sense.

"That we can't tell you yet, but what I can do is tell you how he came in." Jennifer said. "He forced one of the back doors."

"There are dinner plates on the kitchen table too." Korsak said.

"Probably watched them eat from a hiding spot and waited for one of them to leave." Emily said quietly. "Which means that he took one and then used the other as leverage."

"This means that he is patient and smart." Jennifer said. "And that he is capable of controlling his emotions. Capable enough to follow straight up the MO of another killer."

"Which means that we probably have a body missing." Jane said. "Korsak did you put a bulletin?"

"Already done." He said while he got his phone. "Korsak… wait, what?" he added surprised.

"It's Frost. I'm going to put him on speaker."

"Talk to us Frost." Jane said.

'So, I put through CODIS that print that Dr. Isles was able to recover from the victim of last night.' They heard him say. 'And it matched with a missing person's report that was filled today. A reporter from channel three, more specifically, the one that gave the news the day the video of the second crime was discovered.'

"What? But how is that even possible?" Jane said angrily.

"He faced the unsub maybe not consciously, but he did call him a coward and crazy." Jennifer said quietly. "This made him unconsciously react."

'Yeah, they reported him a few hours ago because he never made it home after he finished recording.'

"Why not before?" Emily asked.

'Because a guard swore that he saw him take his car and leave the parking lot.'

"Frost, get us the information of that guard and the address of the parking lot." Jane said. "We need to talk to him."

'On it Jane.' He said while hanging up.

"How long did Maura said the body was there?" Emily asked her.

"She said that without an autopsy she was unable to tell because the body was too mutilated by external factors that could have affected its decomposition process." Korsak said while holding his puke.

Jane was going to add something until a policeman came in. "Detective Rizzoli." He said angrily. "There is a man that refuses to leave until he sees you."

Jane nodded and went outside. The rest followed her. There, with lavenders and a box in his hand was a delivery boy waiting. "Detective Rizzoli?" he asked.

Jane nodded quietly, too scared to talk. "Sign here and thank you."

Jane turned around and took the flowers along with the box. It was kind of heavy and seemed to have a single object.

"Don't open it Jane, who knows what could be there." Korsak said fiercely.

"This killer is just stepping in new territory every single time." Emily said quietly. "He got you flowers."

"Hoyt also gave me flowers; he said that I smelled like lavender and fear." Jane whispered. "And the box, I don't think it's a bomb Korsak."

"Well, he wouldn't want to give her something that could be compromised before it reached her." Jennifer said.

This seemed to be enough for Jane because she placed the box on the floor and bent down right next to it. When she noticed her hands shaking she took a deep breath and went to open it. She screamed immediately. Inside of the box was what seemed to be a heart along with a piece of paper that simply said: "He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessings from the Lord and vindication from God his savior."


	8. Stipa Barbata

**A/N: After a long wait here is a new chapter! A long one since I waited so long to write it. The reason this happened was because I have been reading so many great stories from great authors. Do check the AU Calamity Jane meets Dr. Isles. Great western story with our favorite Rizzles. Enjoy the reading :) **

* * *

Maura was quietly looking through the microscope, trying to not damage her patient any further in the process. Dr. Spencer Reid, or just Reid as he told her to call him, was watching from afar the newest toxicology results that the crime lab had ready for her when they got back from the crime scene.

"In your previous reports you said that the killer used a mixture of components that are found in general anesthesia. Correct?" she heard him ask her.

"Yes, although they were administered differently. One was through an injection and the other through the nose. She had traces of the drugs in her nostrils, but since we never found any evidence of the object that had the medicine, it is unclear the tool that was used to administer it."

"Well, based on these reports that the crime lab just handled us, our hypothesis of the reporter being a random target can be confirmed." he said while giving the file to Maura, who started reading it quickly. "You see, no sign of any of the components that you found on your previous victims."

"That also means that the killer of the reporter is not the same one we have been searching." Maura said absently while going back to the table and continue the autopsy.

"I also thought that when Emily and JJ told me about the crime scene, but this new murder that happened today has let me see that our killer is a chameleon: He can switch comfortably between M.O's and is meticulous enough to never leave evidence."

"Which complicates things further, Dr. Reid." she said quietly. "I didn't want to discuss this with Jane because I didn't want to scare her, but when she asked me about the organs missing, I started to think that our killer needs to have a place, the necessary medical equipment and years of experience and knowledge to conserve organs. That, along with the precision and cleanliness of the scenes has led me to suspect that the killer is either a doctor or has had resident-level medical education."

"Charles Hoyt was also a doctor." Reid said more to himself. "Maybe that's why he is now killing in his M.O. Trying to get more comfortable by learning how to kill, almost like a ritual of initiation."

"Which goes along with his religious messages." Maura finished his sentence. "He has been quoting from the books of Revelations, and based on the passages chosen he seems himself as the messiah."

"That's his narcissistic nature. His desire to gloat and show that he is in complete control of himself and of us. He is so immersed in his mission that he probable believes that what he is doing is his ultimate goal."

"But then why all women? I don't understand." Maura trembled.

Reid went to face Maura so he could see her face and reassure her. "You need to understand Maura that in his mind all of this makes sense. In his mind what he is doing is helping the world by getting rid of these women. Why he chose women and not men? Perhaps because the Bible and many other documents from ancient societies minimize the role of women as the temptress of men. Just look at Eve, Mary Magdalene, Cleopatra, etc. Stereotypes about women have been the ones that have led to the discrimination against them, the vision of society of women as creatures of the devil that make us sin, which is not true at..."

Maura interrupted him. "This doesn't make sense at all."

Reid quickly went by her side and looked at Maura.

"This woman was raped two hours before she was murdered."

"That doesn't fit Hoyt's methodology at all." Reid whispered. "This actually changes everything about the way we saw the scene." he continued as he took his phone out.

Maura just looked at him while quickly thinking about Jane and what that meant for her. She was still at the crime scene, alone and not knowing that their killer was more complex and evil that what they had suspected. Well, not totally alone, Maura couldn't stop herself from thinking. Although she felt more relaxed when Jane showed her that Emily was not interested in her, she still felt a sting of jealousy when she imagined the two of them together. She lifted her gaze and saw Reid looking at her deeply, as if he was discussing her with the person to whom he was talking on the phone. When he noticed her staring, he quickly turned around. This was the moment where Maura knew that she was being the topic of discussion between the doctor and the other agents.

* * *

Jane had left the flowers on the table from the house and literally ran out of the place before she screamed out of fear. It seemed that Charles Hoyt was never going to disappear from her life. When she read that card she felt her worst nightmares become a reality. Although she hated to admit it, she felt afraid: No clue of where the wife of the victim could be (if she was alive) and the fact that the killer was knowledgeable of all those personal things that Hoyt did meant that he knew who she was. Jane was taking deep breaths, trying to calm herself and control the strange notion of looking around to see if she was being watched. She felt her phone vibrate and quickly took it out. It was a text from Maura.

'_Jane, you need to come here as soon as possible. Found some revealing evidence during the autopsy.'_

Jane answered her simply with an ok, expecting the conversation to be over.

_'How are you holding up? I miss you.' _

Jane was a little angry after reading the first question. Not at Maura, never at her, but she was angry because she knew that she was not ok, she was terrified of everything that was happening. And although she wanted to deny it, she felt guilty about it all. She felt her phone vibrate again and she took it out.

'_None of this is your fault Jane. ' _

Jane started to smile. It was really surprising how Maura was able to know how she felt and how she thought.

_'You will get to the bottom of this, and even if it takes longer than what it should, I just want you to know that I'm proud of you. Always.' _

It seemed that this was what Jane needed to hear, or read in this case, to get up from where she was sitting and go back to the house. She felt Korsak look at her with concern, and when she told him that everything was already he believed her. Emily and Jennifer were standing on the other side of the room, talking on the phone with a woman who just kept babbling about her day. When they saw her approach they both smiled sadly, understanding her fear, and told the woman to introduce herself.

'Detective Rizzoli, my name is Penelope Garcia and I'm one of the analyst of the BAU, agents Prentiss and Jareau told me to go over the data of all of your victims to see if there was any pattern between them and there was nothing that connected them.'

"Well that's another dead end there." Jane said angrily.

'But...' the woman called Garcia interrupted her. 'I did find a line pattern. Your first victim records had a match on our database of missed persons and...'

"Wait, so you did know who our Jane Doe was?!" Jane almost screamed. "And you refused to share the information with us?"

Emily and Jennifer looked at her. The latter one spoke. "We didn't have a choice Jane. We were ordered not to because she was involved in an open case. One that was way beyond our jurisdiction."

"Well tell me now who she was."

"She was a small level prostitute called Samantha Charleston. 24 years old and single. The reason why we couldn't tell you her name was because she was involved with a diplomat from Russia."

"Let me guess: so somehow the FBI found out about this relationship and "hired" Miss Charleston to be a C.I and tell the government on everything the Russian diplomat did?" Jane asked sarcastically.

"Basically yes." Emily said quietly. "When she disappeared they suspected the worst: that her cover was discovered and that the Russians knew about the operation. Ironically, they when we got your files and found out that she was murdered, the FBI suspected that she was the victim of a crime of passion."

"I don't understand, why would the Russians try to cover an operation as a crime of passion. I'm sure there are easier ways of doing the job." Korsak said.

"Yes, but the thing is that the Russians never knew anything about the FBI employing her as a C.I. We know that you did an analysis to find out if she had H.I.V, correct?"

Jane nodded. "Yes, but we are still waiting on the results but for some reason they are..." she stopped her sentence, realizing why the exams were taking longer than usual. "So that's why the exams were taken longer than expected."

Jennifer nodded. "Your crime lab technicians were informed of the seriousness of the exams and their extreme need of secrecy. In fact, in order to make sure that this information couldn't be leaked, the FBI informed the labs chief of staff to not inform the results of the exam to Dr. Isles."

"So you left the dumb Boston PD cops running around a maze like mice." Jane said angrily. "Everything a big bureaucracy."

Emily nodded. "I hate it too Jane, trust me. We do." she said while looking at Jennifer. "But there was nothing we could do. When the results showed that the victim was positive for having H.I.V, the FBI went to talk to the diplomat suspecting that he killed her because she had the virus and infected him."

"But wait, he then also had the virus?" Jane interrupted her. "And how did you find that out?"

"The FBI got the exams from the hospital. When confronted, he was surprised of the fact that Miss Charleston was sick. In fact, he was terrified of having being the one to pass it to her, which made sense because he was stage three and she was on stage one."

"Which means that she truly is a victim of our killer." Jane finished quietly.

'Yes.' Penelope finally spoke. 'She was being treated at the Memorial Hill Hospital, which was the same hospital where Mrs. Fitzmore was doing charitable work.'

"Could it be possible that both victims met there?" Korsak asked excitedly.

"We don't believe that happened." Jennifer said while moving around the room. "We believe that the killer saw Mrs. Fitzmore on one of his many trips to the hospital while following or being with Miss Charlestone."

"Which can mean that he knew our first victim." Jane finished excitedly.

'And it doesn't end there.' Penelope said. 'In fact, the victims of today, especially Miss Lauren Wood, is a member of the Done a Dime make a Play foundation, which donates money to directors who are trying to produce plays. Mrs. Fitzmore worked on one of the plays produced by the foundation.'

Jane looked up to Korsak and saw him look at her with relief. They both knew that this was so much more than what they had the day before, and it meant that the killer was establishing connections and not just targeting random civilians. At least they could tell that to the governor.

"But what about the Bible verses?" Korsak said while looking at the two agents. "Where does that fit into the pattern?"

"That's what we still don't understand." Jennifer said. "It could be said that he is using the Bible to justify his actions, to give himself the title of a kind of savior that is in charge of cleansing this earth."

"Maybe the first kill was accidental." Emily said. "Filled with range, and in this delusion he tried to convince himself that it was a sign from heaven that he had a mission to fulfill, which is what led him to all of the other killings."

"So we are facing a self-proclaimed savior that is too delusional to see that he is clearly not sent from heaven but too smart to not leave any kind of leads or evidence?" Korsak asked surprised.

"Although it's hard to believe it fits with what he have discovered."

"Great." Jane said sarcastically. "Just what we needed." Without wanting to, she went back to the house and quickly passed through the table where the flowers were. She glanced at them for a while, trying to place where she had seen them before. She took out her phone and called Frost.

'Frost, I need a favor.' Jane said while quickly taking a picture of the flowers with her phone. 'Tell me if these flowers appear on the video that the killer sent to the news channel and let me know as soon as you have an answer.'

'On it Jane.' She heard Frost answer while hanging up.

After that she made her way back to where Korsak was standing and quickly took him to one side. "I think I have seen these flowers before." she whispered quietly.

Korsak looked at her with utter surprise. "Where Jane?"

"If I'm correct..." Jane said while hearing her phone ring. "Rizzoli".

'You were right Jane, the same plants do appear in the video. Same color and same species. It's a Stipa Barbata. currently one of the weirdest grasses of the world.' they both heard Frost read from a website. 'They are not found in the United States and the price for them is more than 10000 dollars.'

"So the flower means something." Jane said. "Our killer is connected to it. Frost, is there an explanation to the meaning of the flower?"

'I'm not Dr. Isles, Jane. I just don't turn out to know these things out of my head you know?' he said sarcastically. 'And besides, it's not a flower, it's grass.'

"I know you don't, but that's why you are seated in front of a big computer that has internet." she answered back in the same manner. "Flower, grass, the same thing."

"You are lucky Dr. Isles is not here to hear that." Korsak said to her while smiling.

* * *

"Are you going to voluntarily tell me what you were just talking about with your fellow agents or do I have to demand you for answers Dr. Reid?" Maura said while absently continuing the examination of the victim of today.

She felt how her statement made Reid flinch and guiltily move around the room, trying to avoid being so close to her. She suspected that like her, Dr. Reid was incapable of lying and felt bad when he had to do it. She again tried to make him talk, using one of the many techniques that Jane usually used on her.

"I thought that we were colleagues in this." She almost whispered, trying to make her voice sound sadder. "And that by being colleagues we could trust each other in sharing information. I have been sharing everything with you Dr. Reid, don't I deserve in return your trust?"

She looked up and saw that he quickly went to stand next to her, wanting to assure her of his trust. "Dr. Isles, you do have my trust. I am well aware of your professional capabilities from reading your file and from my observations of these autopsies. But it's not that simple." he added quietly.

"Yes it is. You can choose to tell me what you were discussing, which I'm 93% sure was about me, instead of looking all guilty and scared." she said the last part while angrily moving past him. This surprised her, she wasn't this out of control with others, but maybe all the years of friendship with Jane had finally taken its toll.

He saw Dr. Reid took a deep breath. "After we left the scene something else happened." he started to say quietly. "While Detective Rizzoli and Korsak, along with agents Prentiss and Jareau were doing a final check of the house, a police officer told Detective Rizzoli that she had a delivery."

Maura instantly looked up from what she was doing, fear in her eyes. "Did they give her flowers?"

Reid nodded.

"And did they have a message?" this last part she whispered it.

Again Reid nodded. "He left a Bible verse, although the first one that is not on Revelations. It's from Psalms 24."

"He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation." Maura said quietly.

"Are you catholic Dr. Isles?" Reid asked her surprised. Not many people were able to recite the Bible, and this passage from the Psalms was not a very common one.

"I respect the faith, I understand and studied it. But I don't practice it." Maura said quietly. "Which it now seems is something that our killer also does."

Reid suddenly stood up and went to face her, excitement on his face. "That's it Mau, Dr. Isles." he said excitedly, forgetting about formalities. "There is the connection."

"I don't understand Dr. Reid."

He didn't answer her and instead took his phone. He listened for a while and then hung up again. "They found a connection between the two crime scenes, and now we know that the plant used by the killer was a Stipa Barbata."

"Also known as the Silver Feather Grass." Maura said while going to her computer and looking for a picture of the grass. "Since its silvery plumes are very difficult to trace if not looked for, the CSI probably missed them. They are so thin and light that they can easily go floating out." she said while looking at the nostrils of the second victim.

"Found something that seems similar to the leaves of the Stipa Barbata." Maura said while looking through the telescope. "Although, there is something strange in this sample."

"What do you mean by strange?" Dr. Reid asked while looking at the screen where the microscope image was being projected. He froze.

"This cannot be possible." Maura whispered.

* * *

They could hear frost writing on the computer and quietly reading to himself. 'The only thing that I can find about this grass is that it takes several years before you can see the "silver feather" that makes the grass famous. Other than that, this plant is very common and has no hidden meaning.'

Jane saw that there was another call on her phone, and when Maura's named popped up she quickly told Frost to keep digging for any connection between the victims and the plant. Quickly she separated from Korsak and took the call.

'Maur, is everything ok?'

'Jane.' she heard Maura scream her name. This made her run to where Korsak, Emily and Jennifer were standing.

'Maura, what is going on?!' she said hurriedly. 'We are listening.'

'We found some evidence on the second victim, after you told us about the Stipa Barbata.' Maura started to say with a hint of fear in her voice.

'That's good news then Maura!' Jane started to say relieved.

'No Jane, they are not.' Maura interrupted her. 'What we found on the small traces of leaves was that the plant was genetically modified. Genetically modified to release a virus.'

Jane froze when she heard this. She saw the rest of them look with fear in their eyes. They were standing in a place fully contaminated by it.

'It does not affect humans directly.' they heard Maura through the phone. 'What this virus does is that it automatically starts to eliminate any trace of evidence, basically just burning it. That's why we were never able to find anything on the scenes. The purpose of the grass was to merely make the bodies of the victims start to react to the virus. In order for the virus to be passed it needed to be inhaled by the victims. What this virus does is that it burns the body down, basically decomposing it at a way faster pace than what one should expect. It can also attract animals to help the process and is basically untraceable if the element used to inhale the virus is not known.' Maura finished saying.

"So that's why there were rats at the crime scene of the third body." Jennifer said quietly.

'That would be correct.' Maura answered quietly.

"Now that I think about it, he always chose to kill outside of places, probably expecting the virus to eliminate the evidence. But in this one he deviated. He left one body here, and the flowers came after the murder." Emily said quietly.

"So then the real victim was the wife of Lauren Wood." Korsak said.

"I don't think it's like that." Jennifer said.

"I think it was all a rouse. A rouse to bring Detective Rizzoli to the scene, to play with her." Emily said. "Because the way in which his victims are chosen is when he gives them the plant."

Jane felt all look at her, understanding what the previous statement meant.

'Jane, please get back to the precinct right now.' she heard Maura almost scream at her.

This made Jane wake up from the trance in which she had been during the whole conversation. As soon as she understood that the killer was going to come towards her she took out her cellphone and called Frost.

'Go right now to the morgue and stay with Maura. Did you hear me, do not let her get away from you at any time.'

"Jane, we can't trust anyone." Emily told her while moving to stand right next to her. "We were talking with Reid previously, about the killer and how it seems that he is fascinated, infatuated with Maura and you."

"Which led us to suspect that a member of the force is the killer, or is involved with the murders." Jennifer said.

"That's a very serious accusation you are making there." Korsak said angrily.

"We know that Detective Korsak, but think about it. What kind of profession would allow for a person to be well informed about police procedures? To manipulate official information and be one step ahead of the police? To know where cameras are in establishments? To make civilians feel safe? And ultimately, to know about the demons that chase Detective Rizzoli and Dr. Isles?"

Jane froze, understanding hitting her. Emily was right, their killer was in the force, possibly in any department of the Boston PD, with a virus that could eliminate evidence and with all the means necessary to hurt the people she loved most. Instead of making her curl up and cry, this information made Jane run rapidly to the car and make Korsak step in. She knew that she didn't need to tell him anything. He understood where they were going and what they were going to do. She had to get to Maura.


End file.
